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Saturday, March 5, 2011

After what he thought was a sloppy effort by his team at times in Friday’s 2-1 overtime win over Pittsburgh, Devils coach Jacques Lemaire was pleased with how his players looked in today’s 40-minute practice.

“We were fine,” Lemaire said. “Yesterday we weren’t that sharp, so I knew today they would come out with more energy.”

That the Devils were able to find a way to win Friday in a game in which they didn’t play their best was a positive.

“Sure, as long as you come back and play well,” he said. “As long as you’re aware of it. You’ve got to be aware when you’re not at your best and try to prepare yourself so you’re at your best the following game.”

The Devils have been on a roll defensively, allowing only 13 goals in going 11-1-0 in their last 12 games.

They also have not allowed a first period goal in their last 12 games. According to Elias Sports Bureau, that equals the NHL’s single-season record for the “modern era” (since the center ice red line was introduced in 1943–44). Three other teams have not allowed a first period goal in 12 consecutive games over the last 67 seasons: the 1959–60 Montreal Canadiens, 1974–75 Los Angeles Kings and 2006–07 St. Louis Blues.

“We don’t play any different than a lot of teams,” Lemaire said. “Maybe we pay attention to some details that are different and the players are doing their best to help each other on the ice, which helps. It’s all little things like that. The goalies are playing better. The defense are playing better.”

The Devils did not play particularly well in the first period Friday. The Penguins were aggressive on the forecheck and pressured them into multiple defensive zone turnovers. But Lemaire said the Devils were able to get out of the period at 0-0 because of goaltender Martin Brodeur and because they have a solid defensive foundation to fall back on when mistakes are made.

“Last night (the Penguins) could have scored,” Lemaire said. “We’re in good position. We blocked a few shots that were dangerous. Marty was in good position. He made saves that he didn’t see the puck. He saw it at the last second and because he’s in good position, he stops it. That’s how it goes.”

*** During the Devils’ 19-2-2 run since Jan. 8, defenseman Henrik Tallnder has been plus-20 to up his plus-minus to minus-6 for the season.

“Tallinder is very steady,” Lemaire said. “Again, last night we weren’t sharp and he played his game. He’s steady. He’s probably our steadiest defenseman. He carries the puck well to get out of the hole. When he gets that puck, he’s good at that. He’s got good legs. He can skate away from players. I like what he does.”

***Lemaire cautioned that the Devils have to be careful against the Islanders Sunday. Their overall record, like the Devils’, is deceiving. Plus, they always seem to give the Devils trouble.

“They’ve been playing as good as we are,” Lemaire said. “They’re playing good. They had a good stretch and they keep going. They got a couple of guys back in their lineup and they beat a lot of good teams.”

The Isles are 2-1-0 against the Devils this season, but the Devils did beat them, 5-2, in their last meeting on Jan. 17 at Nassau Coliseum. The Devils had won just one of their previous six visits to the Coliseum (1-5-0), getting outscored, 21-5, in the five defeats.

***aLemaire said again that he wasn’t pleased with the way the Devils approached their 4-on-3 power play in overtime Friday even thought it ended with Ilya Kovalchuk’s winning goal.

Lemaire said the players did not execute what they worked on in practices and talked about in meetings.

“It’s plays that we’re working on,” Lemaire said. “You can work on one-timers. You can work on passes across. You can work on working down low. You want to work the two guys on their one-timer side. You want to work with a guy in the middle. There’s certain things that we work in practice or we show them (in meetings) that we want the guys to do and they did it once, made a play once. But the rest I don’t know what they were looking for.

“But we had a great ending. The end was good.”

***It’s a busy day today at The Rock. Seton Hall has a men’s basketball game on the arena side and there will be a boxing card at the practice rink. That forced the team to practice at 11:30 today, so the practice rink could be changed over in time for the boxing event.

The players then went home for the afternoon and will bus to Long Island later for Sunday’s game against the Islanders. Normally, the team would have practiced later in the afternoon and bussed to Long Island after the practice.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.